More Alike Than Different
Sun., August 10, 01:51 PM
A couple of posts ago, I wrote “remember that I loved you.” That was mine; I wasn’t quoting anyone.
In yesterday’s paper, someone wrote about the phrase “remember me as loving you,” which the writer had heard at a recent memorial service. The question was, from which psalm had it come? It’s not a psalm at all, was the answer. It is a Muslim poem, in the Sunni tradition. And once again I thought, if we just look, we are more alike than different.
No matter what your religion, you can find a great deal of beauty within Islam. Isn’t it tragic that a few power-hungry pigs overshadow that beauty by preaching that it’s “them or us,” that the world is not big enough for us all.
Perhaps one of the basic errors of humanity is that we produced more people faster than we could teach them to live with one another.
Even as I understand the need for political correctness, I see it being overdone to the point of silliness. For example, I was watching a true crime mystery, in which a skeleton was identified as African-American. When they finally found out who she was… she was African, all right, but not American; she was from Tanzania.
Someone found a definition that I like: political correctness is a myth, postulated by a minority that still believes it is possible to pick up a turd by its clean end. And I hope you will enjoy this one.
Actually that goes with the one about Alabama. May I quote:
The judiciary of Alabama has decided it will fight to the finish for the right to display the Ten Commandments. Granted that the entire judicial system is based on the ideals from religion, do you suppose that people who espouse those ideals need the reminder? [I don’t.] Do you really think that the sight of the Commandments will reform people who are already breaking the law? [Don’t make me laugh.] On the other hand, do you think that some people whose beliefs differ from yours (including nonbelievers) might be offended by a “Judeo-Christian” symbol? [I can understand if they are, even though most symbols don’t bother me.] So now, explain to me what Alabama is gaining from this stand, outside of publicity. Somehow, I don’t think it will help the tourist trade.
